It is widely recognized by vehicle safety authorities that the manually operated restraint belt systems with which most motor vehicles are equipped at the present time are often not used by the vehicle occupants. Many people find in unduly troublesome to do up the belt each time they enter the vehicle and undo it when they leave. They also find the belt somewhat uncomfortable when in the restraining position. By the same token, it is also recognized that the safety belts can markedly reduce injuries and fatalities resulting from vehicle accidents.
In order to encourage the use of a safety belt system, a great deal of development effort has gone into the creation of passive type belt systems that are automatically shifted into a restraining configuration when an occupant enters a vehicle and closes the door and automatically transferred to a releasing configuration when the occupant opens the door. Many of these proposed passive systems employ one or more belt guide members that are connected to the restraint belt and are driven back and forth along a guide rail to transfer tne engaged portion of the belt between a restraint location and a release location establishing the respective restraining and release configurations of the belt. For example, some types of systems involve a shoulder belt that is connected to a moving anchor that moves along a track located at the edge of the vehicle roof generally above the door. The moving anchor moves between a restraint location above and behind the outboard shoulder of the occupant and a release location at or along the front pillar. In a similar system, the outboard end of a shoulder belt is anchored above and behind the vehicle occupant and passes from the anchor through a movable guide member that moves along a track above the door. Other systems employ a moving anchor or a belt guide member that moves along a guide rail installed on the vehicle door, and there are some systems in which an inboard portion of a lap belt, shoulder belt, or control belt is moved forward and backward.
The drive mechanism for transferring the moving anchor or transfer member or movable belt guide, which are hereinafter referred to collectively as a belt guide member, often is a reversible, electric motor powered by the vehicle battery and coupled to the belt guide member by a semiflexible drive element, such as a racked wire, by means of a reduction device. The drive wire runs within an outer casing which must be connected to the guide rail in the passive seat belt system.
In the prior art, there are two ways for connecting the outer casing of the racked wire to the guide rail. In one case the outer casing is inserted in an unassembled twopiece connecting member, the two pieces of which are thereafter joined together to form a single unit which is then inserted in the guide rail. In the other case, the connecting member is mounted on the guide rail, and then the outer casing and the racked wire are connected to the connecting member.
Both ways for locking the outer casing to the guide rails suffer from significant difficulties. The guide rail and outer casing must be assembled, and then the belts must be attached to the belt guide before the system can be installed in a vehicle. After attaching the guide rain and associated restraining belts to the vehicle, the belt drive mechanism must be installed in the vehicle. These arrangements pose significant difficulties when implemented on an assembly line.
A portion of the guide member must project from the guide rail so that a restraining belt can be attached. Usually, the belt is sewn to the projecting portion of the guide member after the guide member has been installed in the vehicle. Since the guide member is generally located along the roof of the vehicle, it is difficult to sew the belt to the projecting portion in the cramped area. The sewing process proceeds very slowly, too, and bottlenecks in the assembly line can develop.
The prior art ways of attaching the racked wire to the sliding guide member also pose significant problems when repairs must be made or when the belts are changed. The small working area and cramped space require difficult manipulations to dismount the guide rail and its associated components. The large amounts of time involved in disassembling and reassembling the mounting systems also increase the cost of replacing a belt or repairing a broken seat belt restraining system.